We prove that for a suitably nice class of random substitutions, their corresponding subshifts have automorphism groups that contain an infinite simple subgroup and a copy of the automorphism group of a full shift. Hence, they are countable, non-amenable and non-residually finite. To show this, we introduce the concept of shuffles and generalised shuffles for random substitutions, as well as a local version of recognisability for random substitutions that will be of independent interest. Without recognisability, we need a more refined notion of recognisable words in order to understand their automorphisms. We show that the existence of a single recognisable word is often enough to embed the automorphism group of a full shift in the automorphism group of the random substitution subshift.

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We extend the notion of boycotts between players in cooperative games to boycotts between coalitions. We prove that convex games offer a proper setting for studying these games. Boycotts have a heterogeneous effect. Individual players that are targeted by many-on-one boycotts suffer most, while non-participating players may actually benefit from a boycott.

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We want to find the convex combination S of iid Bernoulli random variables that maximizes P(S ≥ t) for a given threshold t. Endre Csóka conjectured that such an S is an average if t ≥ p, where p is the success probability of the Bernoulli random variables. We prove this conjecture for a range of p and t

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Wythoff Nim is a classical combinatorial game of queen moves on a chessboard. There are many ways to describe its P-positions (safe positions to move to). One way is to code them by the Fibonacci word 010010100100101.., which is the unique fixed point of the substitution of 0 by 01, and of 1 by 0. The coordinates of the n-th P-position are encoded by the location of the n-th zero and the n-th one in the Fibonacci word. We show that a minor modification of the rules of Wythoff Nim leads to a game with P-positions that are coded by 010010010010100100.. This word can be derived by deleting all 2’s from the Tribonacci word, which is the unique fixed point of the substitution of 0 by 01, of 1 by 02, and of 2 by 0.

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The China-India border is the longest disputed border in the world. The countries went to war in 1962 and there have been recurring border skirmishes ever since. Reports of Chinese incursions into Indian territory are now a frequent occurrence. This rising tension between the world’s most populous countries not only poses risks for global security and the world economy, but also has a negative impact on the unique ecology of the Himalayas, because of the expanding military infrastructure. We have assembled a unique data set of the dates and locations of the major incursions over the past 15 years. We find that the conflict can be separated into two independent conflicts, the western and eastern sectors. The incursions in these sectors are statistically independent. However, major incidents do lead to an increased tension that persists for years all along the entire Line of Actual Control (LAC). This leads us to conclude that an agreement on the exact location of a limited number of contested regions, such as the Doklam plateau on the China-Bhutan border, has the potential to significantly defuse the conflict, and could potentially settle the dispute at a further date. Building on insights from game theory, we find that the Chinese incursions in the west are strategically planned and may aim for a more permanent control over specific contested areas. This finding is in agreement with other studies into the expansionist strategy of the current Chinese government.@en

Let S and X be independent random variables, assuming values in the set of non-negative integers, and suppose further that both E(S) and E(X) are integers satisfying E(S) ≥ E(X). We establish a sufficient condition for the tail probability P(S ≥ E(S)) to be larger than the tail P(S + X ≥ E(S + X)), when the mean of S is equal to the mode.

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Since the 1960s China and India have engaged in a dispute about the demarcation of their shared border. This territorial dispute led to a brief war in 1962, and recurring flare-ups over the following decades, including during the summer of 2020. The potential for further escalation of this dispute poses significant risks to Indian and Chinese civilians, US foreign policy objectives, and the stability of the international economic system. Despite the importance of this dispute, there have been relatively few attempts to understand the correlates of Chinese incursions. This paper addresses this important question by leveraging past work on the study of conflicts between states to derive a set of testable explanations about the impact of China–India relations, internal political affairs, international political issues, and domestic economic factors on the likelihood of incursions. The study uses 15 years of original data on monthly Chinese incursions into India along with a monthly dataset containing 18 independent variables, to develop a detailed statistical understanding of the factors that trigger Chinese incursions across the Indian border with a lead time between 1 and 6 months. The quantitative study finds that Chinese incursions are more likely when Chinese leadership is early in their tenure, but more likely when Indian leadership is in the later stages of their tenure. The results also show that closer cooperation between India and the US may trigger additional Chinese incursions into India. Finally, lower consumer confidence in the Chinese economy is consistently related to an increased likelihood of incursions. These findings have implications for the maintenance of peace and India’s national security policies. Periods of Chinese uncertainty, particularly when their economy exhibits weakness and when Chinese leaders are in the early stages of their tenure are more likely to experience incursions. Further, the strengthening of the US–Indian alliance, as well as increased conflict between India and Pakistan, create the potential for an elevated risk of incursions. During these periods India should likely be on higher alert, while India and Indian allies should signal the importance of diplomatic solutions for the dispute.

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A symmetry of a tessellation is an isometry of the plane, or space, preserving the tessellation. What symmetry groups can one get? This is a classical problem in geometry, leading to the wallpaper groups of the plane or crystallographic groups in higher dimensions.@en

This paper repurposes the classic insight from network theory that long-distance connections drive disease propagation into a strategy for controlling a second wave of Covid-19. We simulate a scenario in which a lockdown is first imposed on a population and then partly lifted while long-range transmission is kept at a minimum. Simulated spreading patterns resemble contemporary distributions of Covid- 19 across EU member states, German and Italian regions, and through New York City, providing some model validation. Results suggest that our proposed strategy may significantly reduce peak infection. We also find that post-lockdown flare-ups remain local longer, aiding geographical containment. These results suggest a tailored policy in which individuals who frequently travel to places where they interact with many people are offered greater protection, tracked more closely, and are regularly tested. This policy can be communicated to the general public as a simple and reasonable principle: Stay nearby or get checked.

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Suppose that some objects are hidden in a finite set S of hiding places that must be examined one by one. The cost of searching subsets of S is given by a submodular function, and the probability that all objects are contained in a subset is given by a supermodular function. We seek an ordering of S that finds all the objects with minimal expected cost. This problem is NP-hard, and we give an efficient combinatorial 2-approximation algorithm, generalizing analogous results in scheduling theory. We also give a new scheduling application where a set of jobs must be ordered subject to precedence constraints to minimize the weighted sum of some concave function of the completion times of subsets of jobs. We go on to give better approximations for submodular functions with low total curvature, and we give a full solution when the problem is what we call series-parallel decomposable. Next, we consider a zero-sum game between a cost-maximizing hider and a cost-minimizing searcher. We prove that the equilibrium mixed strategies for the hider are in the base polyhedron of the cost function, suitably scaled, and we solve the game in the series-parallel decomposable case, giving approximately optimal strategies in other cases.@en

We prove that topologically isomorphic linear cellular automaton shifts are algebraically isomorphic. Using this, we show that two distinct such shifts cannot be isomorphic. We conclude that the automorphism group of a linear cellular automaton shift is a finitely generated abelian group.@en

We study search games in which the hider may hide in a finite number of locations. We assume that the cost of searching these locations does not depend on the order in which the locations are searched. From these assumptions we derive that the cost function is submodular, thus placing search games with an immobile hider in the context of coalitional games.

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In a cycling time trial, the rider needs to distribute his power output optimally to minimize the time between start and finish. Mathematically, this is an optimal control problem. Even for a straight and flat course, its solution is non-trivial and
involves a singular control, which corresponds to a power that is slightly above the aerobic level. The rider must start at full anaerobic power to reach an optimal speed and maintain that speed for the rest of the course. If the course is flat but not straight, then the speed at which the rider can round the bends becomes crucial.@en

We give an explicit evaluation, in terms of products of Jacobsthal numbers, of the Hankel determinants of order a power of two for the period-doubling sequence. We also explicitly give the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the corresponding Hankel matrices. Similar considerations give the Hankel determinants for other orders.@en

The optimal pacing strategy of a cyclist in an individual time-trial depends on terrain, weather conditions and the cyclists endurance capacity. Previous experimental and theoretical studies have shown that a suboptimal pacing strategy may have a substantial negative effect. In this paper we express the optimal pacing problem as a mathematical optimal control problem which we solve using Pontryagin's maximum principle. Our solution of the pacing problem is partly numerical and partly analytical. It applies to a straight course without bends. It turns out that the optimal pacing problem is a singular control problem. Intricate mathematical arguments are required to prove that the singular control times form a single interval: optimal pacing starts with maximum power and decays through a singular control, which may be degenerate, to minimum power.

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Search games for a mobile or immobile hider traditionally have the hider permanently confined to a compact ‘search region’ making eventual capture inevitable. Hence the payoff can be taken as time until capture. However in many real life search problems it is possible for the hider to escape an area in which he was known to be located (e.g. Bin Laden from Tora Bora) or for a prey animal to escape a predator's hunting territory. We model and solve such continuous time problems with escape where we take the probability of capture to be the searcher's payoff. We assume the searcher, while cruise searching, can cover the search region at unit rate of area, for a given time horizon T known to the hider. The hider can stay still or choose any time to flee the region. To counter this, the searcher can also adopt an ambush mode which will capture a fleeing hider. The searcher wins the game if he either finds the hider while cruise searching or ambushes him while he is attempting to flee; the hider wins if he flees successfully (while the searcher is cruising) or has not been found by time T. The optimal searcher strategy involves decreasing the ambush probability over time, to a limit of zero. This surprising behaviour is opposite to that found recently by Alpern et al. (2011, 2013) in a predator-prey game with similar dynamics but without the possibility of the hider escaping. Our work also complements that of Zoroa et al. (2015) on searching for multiple prey and Gal and Casas (2014) for a combined model of search and pursuit.@en